bieberfan

3 years ago

what types of conditions were there that indentured servants had to obey?

Indentured servants sold themselves in order to move from overcrowded labor markets to less crowded ones where the demand for their services would be higher. Unfortunately, most of these people could not afford the transportation to these less crowded labor markets and so sold years of service (indentured servitude) to people who could afford to transport them. First off, the actual transportation was typically overcrowded and under-equipped leading to thirst, hunger, and the quick spread of diseases. Those that survived the passage were received by their "masters" and given food, boarding, clothing, and training but in exchange had to perform what many would consider grueling manual labor at the behest of their master until they had worked for enough years to repay their master the transportation fee.